1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is a transfer device which deposits pre-sprouted small plants onto a final growing bed containing growing medium, such as soil. The novel transfer device is intended to deposit in a single operation a plurality of sproutlings onto prepared ground of, for example, a garden, in numbers far greater than could be feasibly accomplished by hand. The invention finds application in gardening or planting operations wherein more than a handful of sproutlings are to be deposited in a single bed. Illustratively, individual consumers who plant more than a handful of sproutlings at one time, small commercial nurseries, research facilities, and institutions could profitably employ the present invention.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Planting large quantities of small, newly sprouted plants usually requires apparatus for handling the sproutlings in a manner appropriate for planting. Plants typically require that they be properly oriented with roots facing downwardly to assure successful establishment in the new planting bed. Also, there is usually a requirement for appropriate spacing from one sproutling to the next to promote vigorous growth.
Considerable care must be exerted in handling young plants to assure health and survival. Notably, root balls must be maintained intact to afford the opportunity for the young plant to establish itself in its new growing location. To answer this requirement, plants are usually sprouted in inexpensive, plastic trays incorporating a plurality of individual receptacles formed therein. Each receptacle accommodates one plant. When the plant is to be transplanted, it is usually removed from the receptacle and replanted by hand. This is a cumbersome, inefficient process when applied to large numbers of plants. Accordingly, the commercial nursery establishment has attempted to automate or otherwise improve efficiency of the process of growing and transplanting young plants.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,783, issued to Lucas E. Langezaal et al. on Jun. 15, 1993, describes a plug strip for holding agroplugs during planting. The strip is intended to release each agroplug as the latter is pressed therefrom. However, planting requires that each agroplug be pressed from engagement with the strip. In the present invention, the base or floor of a device corresponding to the plug strip is slid out from under sproutlings. There is no need in the present invention to press sproutlings downwardly, nor to handle agroplugs or plants individually, as is performed by Langezaal et al. Rather, in the present invention, a large number of sproutlings are deposited en masse by sliding the floor out from the remaining carrier structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,418, issued to Gerald S. Pullman et al. on Oct. 29, 1991, describes a method of transplanting young plants to a permanent growing bed. The method includes the step of treating the growing medium, such as soil, at an appropriate stage of growth such that it becomes lightly bonded. That is, the growing medium is caused to cake or otherwise harden or solidify to the point that the growing medium surrounding each plant can be extracted from a container originally containing many sproutlings and handled as a plug which resists immediate disintegration which would result if the growing medium were still in comminuted or particulate form. By contrast with the approach of Pullman et al., the present invention does not rely on binding the growing medium into one or more generally solid, cohesive masses. Instead, the novel apparatus has the ability to transfer young plants and surrounding growing medium to a new growing environment without requiring that the growing medium be rendered cohesive. Also, this transfer is accomplished en masse, rather than requiring that plants be handled as individual plugs, as performed by Pullman et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,755,964, issued to David Rack on Sep. 4, 1973,
illustrates a multi-plant tray formed from a material which is more permeable to air and water, and penetrable by plants, than are typical plant trays. However, this tray lacks apparatus enabling ready transfer of partially developed plants to a permanent growing bed, as occurs in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,012, issued to Donald E. Weder et al. on Feb. 25, 1997, describes a container for holding one or more young plants. There is no apparatus associated therewith for readily transferring plants to a permanent growing bed, as seen in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,786, issued to Thomas Smith et al. on May 31, 1994, describes a planting tray which is abandoned in place in a permanent growing bed. The tray is biodegradable and disintegrates over time after planting. By contrast, the present invention is not abandoned in place. Rather, it readily releases young plants to the new growing bed, and is removed from the site.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.